MAPPING THE DIASPORIC EXPERIENCE IN THE NAMESAKE

Authors

  • Ankit Jaiswal

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.6011

Keywords:

Displacement, Dislocation, Hybridity, Identity, In-Betweenness, Otherness

Abstract [English]

In an increasingly globalised world, transnational migrations are not just movements across borders but also transitions across languages, cultures, and identities. The condition of being “in-between”—of being neither fully here nor there—produces a persistent sense of otherness. Lahiri’s protagonists often inhabit these in-between zones, where they are required to reconcile inherited cultural legacies with adopted environments. This study investigates how Lahiri’s characters experience and internalise displacement, negotiate cultural dislocation, and construct fractured yet meaningful identities within diasporic spaces.

References

Alam, Fakrul. “Jhumpa Lahiri and the Aesthetics of Dislocation.” South Asian Review,

vol. 25, no. 1, 2004, pp. 132–146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(03)00065-7

Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.

U of Minnesota P, 1996.

Banerjee, Bidisha. “The Shadow Lines of Identity: Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake and the

Formation of the Immigrant Self.” ASIATIC: IIUM Journal of English Language and

Literature, vol. 2, no. 1, 2008, pp. 1–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21587/jsas.2008.13.2.001

Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.

Brah, Avtar. Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. Routledge, 1996.

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1990.

Clifford, James. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century.

Harvard UP, 1997.

Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial

Theory: A Reader, edited by Patrick Williams and Laura Chrisman, Harvester Wheatsheaf,

, pp. 392–403.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Lowland. Vintage Books, 2013.

---. The Namesake. HarperCollins, 2003.

Mishra, Sudesh. “From Sugar to Masala: Writing by the Indian Diaspora.” New Literatures

Review, vol. 31, 1996, pp. 1–15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1350-4789(96)90081-1

Mishra, Vijay. “The Diasporic Imaginary: Theorizing the Indian Diaspora.” Textual Practice,

vol. 10, no. 3, 1996, pp. 421–447. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09502369608582254

Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991. Penguin, 1991.

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. Knopf, 1993.

---. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Harvard UP, 2000.

Seshadri, Vijaylakshmi. “Displacement and Cultural Negotiations in Lahiri’s Fiction.”

Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 41, no. 1, 2006, pp. 63–75.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation

of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, U of Illinois P, 1988,

pp. 271–313.

Vertovec, Steven. “Transnationalism and Identity.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,

vol. 27, no. 4, 2001, pp. 573–582. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/huguenot.2001.27.04.573

Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981–1991. Penguin, 1991.

Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. Knopf, 1993.

---. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Harvard UP, 2000.

Seshadri, Vijaylakshmi. “Displacement and Cultural Negotiations in Lahiri’s Fiction.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 41, no. 1, 2006, pp. 63–75.

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, edited by Cary Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, U of Illinois P, 1988, pp. 271–313.

Vertovec, Steven. “Transnationalism and Identity.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, 2001, pp. 573–582. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13691830120090386

Downloads

Published

2024-01-31

How to Cite

Jaiswal, A. (2024). MAPPING THE DIASPORIC EXPERIENCE IN THE NAMESAKE. ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts, 5(1), 2770–2774. https://doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v5.i1.2024.6011